Professor Evonne Miller
Faculty of Creative Industries, Education & Social Justice,
School of Design
Biography
Evonne Miller is Professor of Design Psychology and Director of the QUT Design Lab in the School of Design, Faculty of Creative Industries, Education and Social Justice.Evonne is also co-Director of HEAL - the Healthcare Excellence Accelerator Lab. HEAL is a collaboration between the QUT Design Lab and the Healthcare Improvement Unit at Clinical Excellence Queensland, and acts as a bridge between the QUT design and innovation community and Queensland Health, accelerating healthcare improvement efforts across the state (https://research.qut.edu.au/designlab/projects/qut-design-lab-and-heal-health-excellence-accelerator-lab/).
Her research focuses on how to design environments – built, technical, socio-cultural and natural – that better engage and support all users, especially older people in residential aged care. Evonne has over 100 peer-reviewed publications in the fields of urban design, population ageing, health and wellbeing, climate change and sustainability, disaster and resilience. Evonne is the author of several books: “Creating Great Places: Evidence-based urban design for health and wellbeing (Routledge, 2020, with A/Prof Deb Cushing) which outlines how designers can create great places that are inclusive, sustainable, and salutogenic (health-promoting), “Creative Arts-Based Research in Aged Care: Photovoice, Photography and Poetry in Action” (Routledge, 2021), exploring entering, living and dying in aged care, and edited How to be a Design Academic: From Learning to Leading (CRC Press, 2021, with Prof Thea Blackler).
Evonne is also a passionate advocate for design and creative arts-based participatory research methods. She has been awarded over $3.7 Million in competitive research grant funding, including a current $1.15M National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) Ideas Grant (2020-2025) exploring how to develop an intergenerational model of senior living/aged care on high school campuses and an Australian Research Council (ARC) Discovery grant (2021-2023) using creative-arts methods (poetic inquiry, participatory photography, citizen storytelling, interactive art) to amplify the voices of aged care residents and engage policy makers, providers, and the public in a reflexive, inclusive conversation about the past, present and future of aged care.
She led an Australian Research Council funded semi-longitudinal qualitative research project, which used participatory visual and creative arts ( photovoice, research poetry, art/drawing) to understand, improve and communicate the experience of aged care (2012-2017). This “Inside Aged Care” Project culminated in 2017 with an exhibition at the State Library of Queensland, and all images available for public use: https://insideagedcareproject.wordpress.com;Evonne also led a collaboration to co-design an app to support informal caregivers (https://ourcarejourney.wordpress.com/),
Evonne is a Fellow of the Australian Association of Gerontology, and a founding member of Places for Ageing Australia, a community of designers, educators and age care providers promoting research, innovation and best practice in the design of healthy places for ageing. She is also a member of two other QUT Research Centres: Centre for the Environment and Waste-Free World, reflecting her interest in sustainability.
Personal details
Positions
- Director, QUT Design Lab
Faculty of Creative Industries, Education & Social Justice,
School of Design - Professor
Faculty of Creative Industries, Education & Social Justice,
T2 Res. Centre - CI, Edu & Social Justice (U94)
Keywords
Population Ageing, Social sustainability, Co-design, Design thinking, Body image and the Media, Aged Care, Technology in healthcare
Discipline
Design Practice and Management, Psychology, Sociology
Field of Research code, Australian and New Zealand Standard Research Classification (ANZSRC), 2008
Qualifications
- PhD (University of Otago)
- Bachelor of Arts (Psychology) (University of Otago)
- Bachelor of Commerce (Marketing Management) (University of Otago)
Professional memberships and associations
Evonne Miller is Professor of Design Psychology and Director of the QUT Design Lab in QUT.
Originally trained in experimental social psychology, Evonne holds a BA(Hons) and PhD in Psychology, and BCom (Marketing Management) from the University of Otago in New Zealand. Evonne is a Fellow (2012) and Distinguished Member (2009) of the Australian Association of Gerontology (AAG), Australia’s largest multidisciplinary professional association of people working in the diverse fields of ageing. She was co-conference chair of the AAG’s National Conference in 2012 (Ageing: Challenging the Boundaries) and has held an array of leadership roles, including National Honorary Secretary (06-09), President of the Queensland division (08-11), and co-scientific program chair of the 2021 conference on the Gold Coast.
Evonne is also a founding member of Places for Ageing Australia, a community of designers, educators and age care providers promoting research, innovation and best practice in the design of healthy places for ageing. With Professor Inger Mewburn (aka the Thesis Whisperer), Evonne also co-edits a blog for thesis supervisors: https://thesupervisionwhisperers.wordpress.com
Originally trained in experimental social psychology, Evonne holds a BA(Hons) and PhD in Psychology, and BCom (Marketing Management) from the University of Otago in New Zealand. Evonne is a Fellow (2012) and Distinguished Member (2009) of the Australian Association of Gerontology (AAG), Australia’s largest multidisciplinary professional association of people working in the diverse fields of ageing. She was co-conference chair of the AAG’s National Conference in 2012 (Ageing: Challenging the Boundaries) and has held an array of leadership roles, including National Honorary Secretary (06-09), President of the Queensland division (08-11), and co-scientific program chair of the 2021 conference on the Gold Coast.
Evonne is also a founding member of Places for Ageing Australia, a community of designers, educators and age care providers promoting research, innovation and best practice in the design of healthy places for ageing. With Professor Inger Mewburn (aka the Thesis Whisperer), Evonne also co-edits a blog for thesis supervisors: https://thesupervisionwhisperers.wordpress.com
Teaching
Evonne is a Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy. Her teaching has focused on research methods, sustainability, and social-cultural issues for design, at both the undergraduate and postgraduate level, as well as delivering workshops on research supervision, academic writing, design thinking / co-design, and participatory arts-based research methods (photovoice and research poetry). Units she has coordinated, lectured and tutored in include:
- First year – ‘Introducing Sustainability’ (Faculty-wide unit)
- Second year – ‘Socio-Cultural Studies’ (Industrial design unit)
- Fourth year – ‘Design & Research’ (School-wide unit)
- Fourth year – ‘Architectural Research ’ (Architecture unit)
- Fourth year – ‘Survey Methods’ (Humanities & Human Services unit)
Experience
Evonne's expertise is in collaborative, interdisciplinary and industry-relevant research, and she has strong collaborations and research partnerships with a range of community organisations, industries and government departments.
She is currently the co-Director of HEAL - the Healthcare Excellence Accelerator Lab. HEAL is a collaboration between the QUT Design Lab and the Healthcare Improvement Unit at Clinical Excellence Queensland, and acts as a bridge between the QUT design and innovation community and Queensland Health, accelerating healthcare improvement efforts across the state (https://research.qut.edu.au/designlab/projects/qut-design-lab-and-heal-health-excellence-accelerator-lab/). Within the broad fields of design, social gerontology and social sustainability, Evonne has been a Chief Investigator on one ARC Discovery, three ARC Linkage project grants and a NHMRC Ideas grant, as well as industry-funded projects including:
Read more
She is currently the co-Director of HEAL - the Healthcare Excellence Accelerator Lab. HEAL is a collaboration between the QUT Design Lab and the Healthcare Improvement Unit at Clinical Excellence Queensland, and acts as a bridge between the QUT design and innovation community and Queensland Health, accelerating healthcare improvement efforts across the state (https://research.qut.edu.au/designlab/projects/qut-design-lab-and-heal-health-excellence-accelerator-lab/). Within the broad fields of design, social gerontology and social sustainability, Evonne has been a Chief Investigator on one ARC Discovery, three ARC Linkage project grants and a NHMRC Ideas grant, as well as industry-funded projects including:
- An Inter-Generational Learning and Living Campus: A New Model for Healthy Senior Living and Integrated School Communities Across Urban and Regional Australia - this $1.15M National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) Ideas Grant (2020-2025) is exploring how to develop an inter-generational models of senior living / aged care on high school campuses (https://grandschoolsproject.wordpress.com);
- Amplifying voices from the Royal Commission into Aged Care (2021-2023) - ARC Discovery Grant (2021-2023). The Royal Commission into Aged Care Quality and Safety is a singular opportunity to reform Australian aged care and redress the marginalisation of aged care residents—a vulnerable demographic whose voices too often go unheard. Combining media analysis with poetic inquiry, participatory photography, citizen storytelling, and interactive art, this project amplifies the voices of residents and engages policy makers, providers, and the public in a reflexive, inclusive conversation about the past, present and future of aged care
- Facilitating active ageing in residential aged care: strategies, opportunities and future directions (longitudinal qualitative research project utilising creative arts-based methodologies to better understand a how quality of life can be maximised for older Australians living in aged care, see: https://insideagedcareproject.wordpress.com);
- Growing Sustainable Regions: Developing a Rural Statistical Sustainability Framework (utilising interactive GIS technologies to visualise the economic, environmental and social issues facing rural Australia and foster evidence-based decision-making);
- Community Liveability: Impact on Social Connectedness and Active Ageing (utilises portable GPS trackers to track and better understand how the built environment facilitates – or hinders – older people’s daily lives in urban and rural Queensland).
Publications
- Miller E, (2021) Creative Arts-Based Research in Aged Care: Photovoice, Photography and Poetry in Action, Routledge
- Blackler A, Miller E, (2021) How to be a Design Academic: From Learning to Leading, CRC Press
- Cushing D, Miller E, (2020) Creating Great Places: Evidence-based Urban Design for Health and Wellbeing, Routledge
- Wright N, Miller E, Dawes L, Wrigley C, (2020) Beyond 'chalk and talk': educator perspectives on design immersion programs for rural and regional schools, International Journal of Technology and Design Education, 30 (1) p
- Miller E, Burton L, (2020) Redesigning aged care with a biophilic lens: A call to action, Cities & Health, () p
- Arlinkasari F, Cushing D, Miller E, (2020) Play, work, and rest: The developmental affordances of designated child-friendly public spaces in Jakarta, Indonesia, Children, Youth and Environments, 30 (2) p119
- Miller E, Polson D, (2019) Apps, avatars, and robots: The future of mental healthcare, Issues in Mental Health Nursing, 40 (3) p208
- Young K, Miller E, Ekberg S, Bradford N, (2020) The Experiences and Healthcare Needs of Families Living With Pediatric Brain Tumor: A Longitudinal Qualitative Study Protocol, International Journal of Qualitative Methods, 19 () p1
- Miller E, Devlin N, Buys L, Donoghue G, (2020) The happiness initiative: Changing organizational culture to make 'brilliance' mainstream in aged care, Journal of Management and Organization, 26 (3) p296
- Miller E, Buys L, Donoghue G, (2019) Photovoice in aged care: What do residents value?, Australasian Journal on Ageing, 38 (3) pe93
QUT ePrints
For more publications by Evonne, explore their research on ePrints (our digital repository).
Awards
- Type
- Curatorial role (head curator, membership of curatorial board) of a prestigious event
- Reference year
- 2021
- Details
- Initiated and curated the inaugural interdisciplinary exhibition at the 54th Australian Association of Gerontology (AAG) 2021 annual conference. Entitled "Art, Ageing & Innovation", the exhibition enriches, challenges, inspires and provokes reflection on ageing - inviting us to pause and look at the familiar in a new way. The exhibition features over 20 artists and creative works about ageing including paintings, photographs, research poetry, installations, interactive VR, digital stories, and short films on topics as diverse as improving dementia awareness in culturally and linguistically diverse communities, to "talking trans ageing", a series of videos designed to help trans and gender diverse people start a conversation about their needs and safety in residential aged care.
- Type
- Appointment to Prestigious Positions
- Reference year
- 2021
- Details
- Invited representative and author on a 2021 internal policy report for Queensland Health, ¿Getting us back up and running¿, outlining the health, social policy and economic implications of various scenarios and options on COVID-19 decision-making, balanced relative to the proportional health and future economic risks.
- Type
- Committee Role/Editor or Chair of an Academic Conference
- Reference year
- 2021
- Details
- Co-Scientific Committee Chair of the 54th Australian Association of Gerontology (AAG) 2021 annual conference, entitled "Innovation in Ageing for the Future" which invites
us all to question and redefine how we think and work to open up new ways of approaching the challenges and possibilities of an ageing world.
- Type
- Appointment to State/National/International Reference Group or Government Committees
- Reference year
- 2021
- Details
- Appointed as Arts Queensland peer assessor, reflecting my specialist knowledge relevant to specific art forms and arts and cultural contexts. The role provides independent reviews, moderation and recommendations on applications to Arts Queensland's investment program.
- Type
- Keynote Speaker/Expert Panel Member/Invited Speaker for a Conference
- Reference year
- 2021
- Details
- Invited keynote speaker at 2021 Audiology Australia annual conference, "Audiology at the Cutting Edge: Connections for a Reimagined Future". My opening plenary "Design thinking as a strategy for innovation in audiology", reflected on the challenges and opportunities of experimenting with a design-led approach in preparing for the future.
- Type
- Keynote Speaker/Expert Panel Member/Invited Speaker for a Conference
- Reference year
- 2018
- Details
- Invited speaker at the "Diversity in Disaster: Communities and emergency management building resilience" Conference in Melbourne, Australia. (17-18 April 2018). This conference focussed on the experience of marginalised groups in disasters, with my presentation on older Queenslanders experience of the Brisbane floods - using the creative-arts method of poetic inquiry to trigger deep empathy, understanding and insight.
- Type
- Appointment to Prestigious Positions
- Reference year
- 2012
- Details
- In 2012, Evonne was made a Fellow of the Australian Association of Gerontology (AAG), for contributions to Gerontology (the study of ageing). Evonne has served as AAG National Hon. Secretary (06-09) and AAG Queensland president (08-11), and was co-chair of the 2012 AAG annual conference "Challenging the Boundaries" in Brisbane where ~500 attendees shared and debated best innovative practice, research and policy in ageing.
Research projects
- Title
- An Inter-Generational Learning and Living Campus: A New Model for Healthy Senior Living and Integrated School Communities Across Urban and Regional Australia
- Primary fund type
- CAT 1 - Australian Competitive Grant
- Project ID
- APP1187656
- Start year
- 2020
- Keywords
- Aged Care; Aged Health; Services Research; Health Care Delivery; Health Care Worker Education
- Title
- Facilitating Active Ageing in Residential Aged Care: Strategies, Opportunities and Future Directions
- Primary fund type
- CAT 1 - Australian Competitive Grant
- Project ID
- LP130100036
- Start year
- 2013
- Keywords
- Acitve Ageing; Population Ageing; Residential Aged Care
- Title
- The Neglected Dimension Of Community Liveability: Impact On Social Connectedness And Active Ageing
- Primary fund type
- CAT 1 - Australian Competitive Grant
- Project ID
- LP0883447
- Start year
- 2009
- Keywords
- Community Liveability; Social Engagement; Community Well Being; Social Isolation; Population Ageing
- Title
- Growing Sustainable Regions: Developing a Rural Statistical Sustainability Framework
- Primary fund type
- CAT 1 - Australian Competitive Grant
- Project ID
- LP0776795
- Start year
- 2008
- Keywords
- Sustainable Regions; Rural Sustainability; Regional Growth; Spatial Decision Support Systems; Economic Development; Decision Making
Supervision
Current supervisions
- Doing Dementia Friendly Communities Locally: Tensions in Practices and Processes
PhD, Associate Supervisor
Other supervisors: Dr Lisa Stafford, Dr Judith Burton - Can Communication Technology Be the Answer to Loneliness in Ageing?
PhD, Associate Supervisor
Other supervisors: Professor Thea Blackler, Dr David Lim, Dr Levi Swann - orkwear wellbeing: design processes for the creation of Industry 4.0 workwear
MPhil, Associate Supervisor
Other supervisors: Associate Professor Marianella Chamorro-Koc - The female furniture designer: acknowledging the past to inspire the future
MPhil, Associate Supervisor
Other supervisors: Dr Natalie Wright, Dr Penny Wild
Completed supervisions (Doctorate)
- The 'Home' / 'Homelessness' Continuum in Residential Aged Care (2019)
- Woven Narratives: Creative Participatory Art in Residential Aged Care (2019)
- Future challenges for older adults residing in ageing coastal hamlets on Queensland's cyclone-prone coastline (2016)
- Identifying Landscape Meanings: Images and Interactions at Gas Works Park (2016)
- What doesn't kill us - the experience of older adults evacuated during the 2011 and 2013 Brisbane floods (2016)
- Where are the women? Women Industrial Designers From University to workplace (2016)
- Exploring the Relationship Between Grandparents and Their Grandchild who has a Disability (2011)
Completed supervisions (Masters by Research)
- Operationalising Community Disaster Resilience: The Role of Place-Based Community Organisations (2020)
- Investigating employees' understanding and application of design thinking for innovation in a large organisation (2018)
- Social Implications of Radical Technology Adoption within the Livestock Industry (2011)